


if what's under that attitude is real

by lalalyds2



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/F, Geminids Exchange, basically it's almost an au where may and bobbi haven't dated or married anyone on the show yet, for the prompt 'wanna see what's under that attitude', set before aos really starts, very LATE exchange I'm so sorry, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:13:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22029127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lalalyds2/pseuds/lalalyds2
Summary: Spies are used to moving and espionage and fake relationships. But sometimes it feels real. And sometimes it might be reciprocated.If one looks under the facade, good things can happen.
Relationships: Melinda May/Bobbi Morse
Comments: 14
Kudos: 19





	if what's under that attitude is real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lazyfish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/gifts).



> I am SO SO SORRY this is so late!! It can't be excused, but I really am sorry, and I wanted to give this to you anyway, because you deserve promises to be kept. Deepest apologies, best wishes, and I hope you have a happy new year!

Her back hits the mat with a dull thud.

“Getting slow, Morse.”

Melinda May’s face is a shuttered smug, for once taller above her.

“Says the one who hasn’t been training since five in the morning.” Bobbi huffs, waving off her sparring partner’s hand, staying put and staring up at May.

She just shrugs.

“Had a meeting.”

“And?”

“You and I are leaving in an hour.”

When May reaches out her hand, Bobbi takes it.

She’s hauled up with grace, grinning and easily keeping pace with May’s quick walk.

“So where’s the fire?”

“Pasadena, if you can believe it.”

Bobbi goes through her mental rolodex of California facts.

Pasadena. Tourism and shopping. Rose Bowl parades.

She grins and tries not to think of vacation.

“You know, I actually can’t.”

~*~

The mission is mostly simple.

Someone has a bomb. Someone bad wants it. Shield wants them not to have it.

And if the world ever comes into a do-or-die moment of crisis, well, Shield figures it wouldn’t hurt to have a bomb handy.

Bobbi and May’s mission is to infiltrate Caltech’s university, gain Dr. Ban’s trust, and steal all the information he has about it.

It’s simple. Easy, even.

Probably.

~*~

It is not.

It turns out Dr. Ban is a paranoid man and only lets fellow staff and students into his lab.

They will have to resort to the oldest trick in the spy book.

Subterfuge.

And, if it comes down to it.

Burglary.

Thankfully, they are the perfect two for the job.

~*~

“I still don’t see why I’m the clingy girlfriend and not the scientist.” May complains, unpacking her bag in the apartment’s shared dresser before flopping down on the shared bed.

“Because you’d open your mouth, and they’d immediately know you’re not,” Bobbi says, keeping her grin to herself as May fumes.

“So I won’t open my mouth.”

“This is a long assignment—you can’t be quiet forever.”

“Watch me.”

She laughs then, sitting on the bed by May’s shoulder. She leans back on her hands so she can stare at the older woman’s face, cataloguing the smooth features of her profile.

To study her for their new roles as lovers, of course. Not for any other particular reason.

It doesn’t hurt that she’s nice to look at.

But then May’s covering up those features, groaning into her hands as she thinks of the future.

“So. I have to work at a _gym_.”

“You don’t have a degree in stem. I do.”

“But a gym?”

Bobbi shrugs.

“‘Fraid so. _Mellie_.”

May’s fist finds her hipbone.

She giggles, but it does hurt.

“Bad idea, Morse, poking the bear like that.”

“Well it’s your name for the next few months. So call me Bobbi.”

May pops up on one elbow, smiling sardonically through gritted teeth.

“Anything you say, _Bobbi dearest_.”

She flops back down.

Bobbi flops down too.

“I just wanna get this over with.” May says.

“Well I,” Bobbi teases because she wants to and because she can. “Wanna see what’s under that attitude.”

It pays off, because May actually laughs. It’s bright and it’s quick and it’s sassy.

“Good luck with that. ‘Cause you won’t, and you won’t see under anything else either.”

~*~

Her first day is busier than she’d thought.

She’s not a part of Dr. Ban’s lab yet, but she’s still a professor, which means she has classes and students and assignments.

She’s only just sitting down to meet him (and the rest of department) for coffee in the building’s cafeteria when May walks in, wearing pink spandex and carrying takeout.

“Hi babe, I brought dinner.” May’s voice is higher and soft, as if she’s perpetually on the verge of a giggle.

Her arms go around Bobbi’s waist like it’s no big thing, and she gives a quick peck on the lips like they’ve done it a hundred times.

Bobbi’s smile is a reflex. She tries not to think about how or why or what is currently happening too much.

She just grabs hold of May’s hip and plays the gushing girlfriend.

“Thanks. Mellie, this is Dr. Ban, I may be working with him soon. Dr. Ban, this is my girlfriend, Mellie.”

“Hiya.” May’s handshake with him is bouncy, as is her snap back to Bobbi’s side.

She’s warm and bubbly and every bit the clinging, love struck girlfriend.

It’s quite unnerving.

But Dr. Ban seems to respond well. He asks questions about May’s job at the gym, laughs at her story about the guy she had to shoo off the treadmill for running with no shoes, and he even goes as far as to invite Bobbi and May to dinner on Friday.

They make plans, and May stays close, holding Bobbi’s hand till they’re completely out of sight on the walk home.

“Good job,” Bobbi says, filling the silence they have between them. “That was... really something.”

May bumps their shoulders, her calm and teasing self once again.

“Enough ‘ _under the attitude_ ’ for you?”

“Maybe too much,” she doesn’t mean it, and May’s grin says she knows. “You’re going to give us away.”

“Because Mellie’s too in love with her girlfriend?”

“Because you’re going to get a crush on me.”

May scoffs.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Morse.”

Bobbi wonders if she’s going to put more distance between them.

But she doesn’t.

They walk quietly towards home, the back of their hands so close they can feel the heat of each other, emanating in waves.

~*~

“The brownies are burning!”

“It said eighteen to twenty minutes!”

Friday night is here, and the two agents have met their match in the kitchen.

Wielding a knife to chop salad?

No problem.

Baking brownies that come from a box?

A big one.

The oven is smoking.

Bobbi lunges to open the door, waving a hand as acrid fumes escape from a blackened pan.

May swoops in to pick it up with gloved hands, taking care not to burn Bobbi as she swings to drop the pan into the sink.

The bubbling mess of flour and cocoa sizzles as water pours onto it.

The two women stare a long moment at the still smoking disaster.

May is the first to break. Bobbi follows quickly after.

It starts as a breathless chuckle, builds to a laugh, then builds to a sound like pealing bells.

Humor at its highest, most incredulous point.

“I think,” Bobbi says in between gasps to catch her breath. “I think salad and wine is good enough.”

“I think you’re right.” May agrees, turning off the faucet, still chuckling as she surveys the rest of the kitchen.

It’s a mess.

They still have a bit of time to clean. She tosses Bobbi a rag, and they get to work.

“I know this though,” she adds as she reaches under Bobbi’s arm to get a sponge.

“What?”

“You and I,” the laughter still lingers there in her smile, soft and real in its sincerity.

“We make a good team.”

~*~

May is warm and bubbly again as Mellie, but Bobbi’s getting used to the switch now.

She holds May’s hand and rests an arm around her waist and acts as if there’s nothing new about receiving the shorter woman’s affection.

She’s all smiles and laughter as Dr. Ban and his wife make them feel welcome and happy in their home.

It’s so nice, but she can’t let it be real, so she doesn’t.

She doesn’t let it affect her when May brushes a strand of hair behind her ear.

She doesn’t blush when May whispers against the shell of it, her breath hot and tickling the soft wisps of hair on Bobbi’s neck.

She doesn’t get caught up when May kisses her in the hall, a clash of soft lips and biting teeth and a hunger to taste desire.

They do it to sneak into Ban’s office, the cover of love a ruse to slip a drive onto his computer to copy or scramble his data on command.

When they come out of the office with clothes rumpled and lips bitten red, it’s a mission complete.

A believable lie.

That’s all.

~*~

It’s harder to believe when May’s asleep in the mornings, dark hair splayed out against the white pillow, breath coming in soft puffs, eyes closed and gentle because she trusts the one beside her enough to truly rest.

It’s just an illusion, and it breaks every time May wakes up.

~*~

But sometimes it happens again, when they’re brushing their teeth and catch each other’s gaze in the mirror.

Sometimes it happens when Bobbi’s grading papers and May slides her a coffee.

And sometimes it happens when they’re not together, and something simply reminds Bobbi of May.

She can’t ever name what it is, and she can’t figure out why she smiles.

She can’t say why it happens at all.

~*~

It’s been nearly a semester, and she’s finally in.

Bobbi’s got Ban’s trust, and his lab’s key code.

She knows she should immediately infiltrate his office. Get in, get out, get over whatever this three-month stint was.

Instead, she sits on her apartment building’s roof and tries to count the stars hidden by Pasadena’s light pollution.

She doesn’t say anything as she feels May climb up to where she is. They sit in this waiting space, quietly breathing together.

“We can leave in a minute.”

“I don’t mind waiting.”

Their shoulders touch as May looks up at the night sky.

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“No.”

Bobbi’s answer definitive.

And yet.

“This was a nice mission.”

It’s surprising, May’s honesty.

Bobbi can’t reply, holds her breath and tries not to look shocked.

“You’re a good partner.”

“You too.”

Another pause.

“I’m not looking forward to being reassigned.”

And now it’s May’s turn to be surprised at the honesty.

“It’s easy. Working with you. The trust was real, even if the rest wasn’t.”

May stands. Her shoulders sag.

It’s time to go.

But as they leave the refuge of this suspended moment, honesty between them gleaming quiet as all the hidden stars above them, May grabs her hand.

Helps her off the ledge, and heat swirls through trusting palms.

All too soon they let go.

But something real lingers.

~*~

Mission complete.

Dr. Ban’s plans stolen, his computer wiped, his job with the federal government already offered.

He can accept the offer or become an enemy of the state.

Bobbi’s seen worse alternatives.

Ultimately, it all feels lackluster.

There’s no shootout, no combat, no real catharsis for a job finished.

The lying, the tangled lives between agents done—fizzled out and ignored like it never happened.

They’ll go back to Shield and move on, and everything they’ve done will disappear.

Which makes sense. None of it was real to begin with.

May finds her in the back of the van as they’re heading out, sits down beside her.

Their shoulders still touch.

“You look unhappy.”

“I’m not unhappy, just. Unsatisfied. We didn’t get to _do_ anything.”

“We saved a future, with no casualties or real harm done. I’d say that’s something.”

“You know what I mean. I just... aside from you and I finding a dynamic that works for us and now having to put that aside for some new mission, we haven’t really done much to tip the scales.”

Maybe because it’s dark and no one can see, or maybe because she just wants to, May holds Bobbi’s hand in hers.

The fingers slide to lock together, in solidarity and soothing.

“To tip the scales, it takes just one. One scientist who believes he’s doing good. One person who uses his invention to cause great harm. One little soldier to pull out the lynchpin, before anyone has to suffer. I believe that is a big something, and it’s worth it.”

Bobbi squeezes May’s hand, a grin pulling at her lips.

There’s gratitude within the vulnerability.

“I think that’s the longest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

May laughs, pulls her hand away but stays close.

“You’re lucky I like you.”

A deep thrill, blooming from the chest and spreading throughout.

Bobbi smiles, and it gleams brighter than stars.

“Yeah. I guess I am.”

~*~

Her back hits the mat with a dull thud.

She’s done it on purpose this time, just to rest and breathe.

“Two weeks away from me, and you’re going slow again.”

Bobbi opens one eye to see May’s grinning face, she glares and reaches for help up.

“If your meeting took two weeks, then I’d say you’re the slow one.”

The elbow to her ribs doesn’t hurt, and she laughs as she follows May through the halls.

“We’ve got another assignment.”

“Together?”

Under the fluorescent lights, May’s cheeks go the slightest shade of pink.

“I requested it.”

“I see.”

Without looking, her hand reaches out.

May takes it without hesitation.

“It’s not California this time.”

“Do I still get to call you _Mellie_?”

There’s thrill and familiarity as May comes close, face tilted to Bobbi’s, arms reaching around her waist as if they’ve done it a hundred times.

Because they have.

“I’d prefer you call me Melinda.”

She grins, and does.

And when Melinda kisses her, softly, fully, she knows it’s real.

The smile after is a reflex, and she gets to think about it all she wants.

“So Melinda, I’ve finally gotten to see what’s under that attitude.”

“Wanna see what’s under the rest?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”


End file.
